Toy Vehicle Booster

Abstract

A toy vehicle booster includes a launcher that can be actuated via repeated user actuations of an actuator. The force of each actuation is mechanically transferred to a booster assembly to cause rotation of the booster assembly and repeated actuations of the actuator continuously increase the rotational speed of the booster assembly. The toy vehicle booster also includes a feedback portion configured to provide feedback based on a rotational speed of the booster assembly and/or a speed at which the booster assembly will boost a toy vehicle. In at least some instances, the feedback is based on the detected rotational speed of booster wheels. The detected rotational speed may also be transmitted to an electronic device to provide additional feedback at the electronic device.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A toy vehicle booster comprising:
 a housing that defines a passageway along which a toy vehicle may be boosted; and   a launcher disposed in or on the housing, the launcher comprising:
 an actuator assembly; 
 a booster assembly that can engage the toy vehicle to boost the toy vehicle along the passageway, wherein the booster assembly be driven at increasing speeds via repeated user actuations of the actuator assembly; and 
 a feedback portion that provides visual feedback relating to a speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle. 
   
     
     
         2 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the booster assembly comprises linked booster wheels disposed on opposite sides of the passageway, the linked booster wheels operating in reverse synchronization. 
     
     
         3 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 2 , wherein:
 the linked booster wheels comprise a first wheel with a drive gear that is driven by the actuator assembly and a first linkage gear and a second wheel with a second linkage gear that is driven by the first linkage gear; and   the feedback portion comprises an optical rotational sensor configured to generate data representative a rotational speed of linked booster wheels based on light patterns created by rotation of the first linkage gear, the second linkage gear, or an optical ring rotationally coupled to the first wheel or the second wheel, wherein a processor included in or connected to the toy vehicle booster produces the visual feedback based on the data.   
     
     
         4 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the booster assembly comprises at least one booster wheel and a flywheel that rotates with the booster assembly in response to the repeated user actuations while generating additional rotational energy;   the feedback portion includes an opening that provides a view of the flywheel; and   the visual feedback comprises rotations of the flywheel.   
     
     
         5 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the actuator assembly comprises:
 an actuator with a handle, wherein the repeated user actuations of the handle cause repeated movements of the actuator;   a biasing member configured to automatically reset the actuator after each actuation of the repeated user actuations; and   a gear assembly that translates each movement of the repeated movements of the actuator to the booster assembly.   
     
     
         6 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 5 , wherein the actuator comprises a plunger that is linearly translatable within an actuator housing. 
     
     
         7 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 6 , wherein the booster assembly comprises at least one booster wheel and the gear assembly translates linear movement of the plunger to rotational motion that drives the at least one booster wheel. 
     
     
         8 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 5 , wherein the actuator is rotatably coupled to the housing and engages the gear assembly via a rotatable coupling. 
     
     
         9 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the booster assembly comprises at least one booster wheel and the feedback portion comprises:
 a rotational sensor configured to generate data representative of a rotational speed of the at least one booster wheel, wherein a processor included in or connected to the toy vehicle booster produces the visual feedback based on the data.   
     
     
         10 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the housing defines a track pathway that extends through the passageway or the housing is mountable onto a track piece in a position that aligns the track piece with the passageway. 
     
     
         11 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the housing includes electrical connectors that can connect the toy vehicle booster to additional electrical track pieces and allow bi-directional communication between the toy vehicle booster and one or more of the additional electrical track pieces. 
     
     
         12 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 1 , wherein the toy vehicle booster includes or is connectable to a communications module that can transmit data representative of the speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle to a computing device that is usable independently from the toy vehicle booster so that the computing device can: (a) provide additional visual feedback; (b) operate digital play features in a digital environment based on the data; or (c) perform (a) and (b) in combination. 
     
     
         13 . A toy vehicle booster comprising:
 a housing that defines a passageway along which a toy vehicle may be boosted;   a launcher disposed in or on the housing, the launcher comprising:
 an actuator assembly; 
 a booster assembly including at least one booster wheel that can engage the toy vehicle to boost the toy vehicle along the passageway; and 
 a feedback portion with a rotational sensor configured to generate data representative of a rotational speed of the at least one booster wheel, wherein a processor included in or connected to the toy vehicle booster causes the feedback portion to generate visual feedback relating to a speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle based on the data. 
   
     
     
         14 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 13 , wherein the feedback portion comprises:
 one or more lights, the visual feedback comprising a light characteristic output by the one or more lights, wherein the processor controls the light characteristic based on the data.   
     
     
         15 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 14 , wherein the light characteristic is color and the processor causes the one or more lights to output a first light color when the speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle is within a range of values and output a second light color when the speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle is outside the range of values. 
     
     
         16 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 13 , wherein the feedback portion comprises:
 a lens or a display, wherein the processor causes the speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle to be displayed on the display or the lens.   
     
     
         17 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 13 , wherein the housing further comprises:
 a portal receptacle and a portal connector, the portal receptacle being sized to receive a portal piece and the portal connector being configured to connect the portal piece to the feedback portion, wherein the portal piece includes the processor.   
     
     
         18 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 17 , wherein the actuator assembly and the booster assembly are purely mechanical. 
     
     
         19 . A toy vehicle booster comprising:
 a housing that defines a passageway along which a toy vehicle may be boosted;   a launcher disposed in or on the housing, the launcher comprising:
 an actuator assembly; 
 a booster assembly including at least one booster wheel that can engage the toy vehicle to boost the toy vehicle along the passageway; and 
 a rotational sensor configured to generate data representative of a rotational speed of the at least one booster wheel, wherein a communications module included in or connected to the toy vehicle booster that is configured to transmit the data to a computing device that is usable independently from the toy vehicle booster so that the computing device can: (a) provide visual feedback relating to a speed at which the booster assembly will boost the toy vehicle; (b) operate digital play features in a digital environment based on the data; or (c) perform (a) and (b) in combination. 
   
     
     
         20 . The toy vehicle booster of  claim 19 , wherein the housing further comprises:
 a portal receptacle and a portal connector, the portal receptacle being sized to receive a portal piece and the portal connector being configured to connect the portal piece to the rotational sensor, wherein the portal piece includes the communications module.